With national surveys showing widespread money woes among veterans, the state is urging military families to register for a conference in March tailored toward helping them make better financial decisions.

"A lot of veterans are behind the eight ball financially as a result of having gone off to active duty to serve the country," State Treasurer Steve Grossman said Friday. "When they take that uniform off, we have an obligation to help them."

Grossman's office oversees the Office of Financial Education, which he said was created a few years ago to help people from all walks of life better manage their finances.

Veterans are one of the four core groups the office is tasked with reaching, Grossman said, and a new conference, "Operation Money Wise," aims to educate veterans on a wide array of financial topics.

Jon Carlisle, communication director for Grossman's office, said the need for such programming is great.

Carlisle cited a 2010 national survey that showed that more than one in four military families have more than $10,000 in credit card debt, while the same percentage reported overdrawing their checking accounts.

More than 50 percent of veterans don't have enough of a savings fund to account for financial emergencies, the survey found, while 21 percent reported using high-cost, non-bank borrowing like payday or auto title loans in the last five years.

Numbers from a 2012 survey conducted by the same entity, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, show Massachusetts veterans had similar responses, with 24 percent reporting experiencing a large drop in income within the last year.

Grossman hopes Operation Money Wise will make a dent in such figures by not only educating veterans on general topics like deceptive money lending practices, but also on lesser-known military benefits.

For instance, Carlisle said some veterans don't know they can have their taxes filed professionally for free, while others may be unaware of certain post 9/11 GI benefits for education costs or first-time home buying.

The event will be held from 8 a.m. to about 3 p.m. on March 22 at Massachusetts Bay Community College in Wellesley. The keynote speaker will be Dick Power, a retired Army colonel who is also a certified financial planner.

Grossman said he anticipates a nice turnout at the event, and called it a great example of breaking down the "silos" of government. He said his office collaborated on the conference with the secretary of Veterans Services and adjutantgGeneral of the state's National Guard.

"(Massachusetts is) known throughout he country as being the best state in terms of veterans services," Grossman said, something it hopes to enhance with the conference.

For more information on the conference or to register, go to mass.gov/treasury/operationmoneywise or call 617-367-9333 ext. 615.

Brad Petrishen can be reached at 508-490-7463 or bpetrishen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @BPetrishen_MWDN.